Island Institute’s flagship fellowship program, which is celebrating its 25th year, welcomes five new Island Institute Fellows, two new community partners, and five continuing Fellows. The program brings recent college graduates to island and coastal towns to work for two years on a community’s public priorities.
The new Fellows are:
Thomas McClellan is the Willoughby I. “Toby” Stuart Island Fellow working with Monhegan Plantation on a working waterfront resiliency project as the island replaces its public wharf and shores-up other waterfront access areas. The island will redesign for sea level rise and increased storm surge pressure. Originally from Maine, McClellan recently completed a degree in Sustainability and Oceanography at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
Taylor Rossini is the Louis W. Cabot Fellow on Swan’s Island working with the Society of Education Board as it launches a redesign plan for the island library. The town envisions the library transitioning into a community hub that will still provide library services, but with broader offerings. One such offering will be digital literacy training with the hope of providing on-island business owners, including lobstermen, with technology training and support as federal fishing rules and regulations change. Rossini joins Island Institute from Delaware where she was completing her master’s degree.
Erin Dent is the St. George Fellow, working with the town’s comprehensive planning committee, assisting in reviewing and interpreting data and anecdotes the committee has collected from the community. She will then lead in the writing of an updated plan. Once the plan is completed, Dent will focus on a priority area identified in the plan. Dent has come to Maine from Texas.
Lucia Daranyi is the William Bingham Fellowship in Rural Education Deer Isle and Stonington Fellow working with the Adult & Community Education program, which is moving to allow for more offerings. Daranyi will join staff to assist with this growth, primarily through outreach and engagement, and she will collect stakeholder feedback. The organization sees a need to help those making career transitions or whose jobs, like lobstering, will require new technological skills for tracking and reporting. Daranyi grew up on Peaks Island.
Mark Gorski will be joining Peaks Island Home Start, the island’s affordable housing non-profit. Part of the city of Portland, the island will soon implement new zoning regulations that will change lot size, and distance/height from sea level, as well add rules spurred by population growth and climate factors. Gorski’s responsibility is to understand the new code, communicate it to the Peaks Council, homeowners, and support Home Start. Gorski arrives in Maine from New York where he worked in the city’s office of management and budget in its community development unit.
Returning Fellows are:
Alice Cockerham, who works with Hancock County Planning Commission assisting towns with comprehensive and resilience planning.
Morgan Karns who works with MDI Biological Labs to collaborate with some islands in a statewide initiative to test drinking water for heavy metals and plastics, partnering with the Maine Seacoast Mission.
Lavinia (Livy) Clarke is the Machias Fellow, working on the Sunrise Trail Coalition, engaging DownEast communities to realize the trail’s potential in alternative transportation, recreation, and community building.
Grace Carrier is the Brooklin Fellow, working with the town’s climate response committee. Alongside committee members, she connects individuals, business owners, and municipal leaders to energy and cost saving programs.
Claire Oxford is the James S. and Joanne M. Cooney Island Fellow on North Haven Fellow, working with town staff and committees to shore-up the island’s working waterfront from recent and future storm surge and sea level rise.
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